a. w. walker

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Category Archives: math history

On Unparsed Substitution Ciphers

February 3, 2020by Alexander Walker Leave a comment

This post discusses the problem of computer-assisted decryption of un-parsed substitution ciphers. Sample Mathematica code is linked within.

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algorithms, cryptography, math history

The Forgotten Method of Prosthaphaeresis

November 19, 2018by Alexander Walker 1 Comment

In this post, I discuss the method of prosthaphaeresis, a proto-logarithm that enabled celestial navigation for the quarter-century predating the introduction of Napier’s logarithm.

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algorithms, computation, math history

Integrating Secant

October 2, 2018by Alexander Walker Leave a comment

The integral formula for secant is often introduced in a very artificial way. In this post, I look at the history of this integral and give several derivations.

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calculus, math history, pedagogy

Notes on Riemann Sums

April 24, 2017by Alexander Walker 1 Comment

For many calculus students, Riemann sums are those annoying things that show up in the derivation of the arc length formula.

In truth, these handy sums have done so much more. In this post, I’ll give some examples of Riemann sums dating from before the birth of calculus and some applications of Riemann sums that are still used today.

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calculus, math history

Calendars for the Modern Age

February 18, 2017by Alexander Walker Leave a comment

Our modern calendar, the Gregorian calendar, introduced several changes to the Julian calendar, including the introduction of a three-step algorithm for determining leap years.

But just how accurate is the Gregorian model? Can centuries of mathematics and astronomy lead us to a more accurate calendar?

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algorithms, math history, number theory

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You have stumbled upon the personal blog of Alex Walker. I am a number theorist and a Heilbronn fellow at UCL.

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